


Recreating Life

by Tria101



Category: Puyo Puyo (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 14:43:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17983073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tria101/pseuds/Tria101
Summary: After Ecolo's most recent plan goes awry, he, Satan, and Ringo are seemingly the only ones left as everything around them has been almost entirely destroyed.  While Ringo's still reeling from it all, she's surprised to find out this isn't the first time this sort of thing has happened...





	1. Chapter 1

Ringo blinked, staring at the area around her and just…letting it all sink in…  
She could hear Ecolo jabbering away, but couldn’t make out what he was saying at all. Her brain was still processing the situation too much for that.  
One moment, she had been mentally preparing herself for whatever it was Ecolo wanted to do to impress her this time…and the next…the next…  
…now…  
…this was all that was left…  
It resembled the Edge of Reality in a way, except there was almost no colors – just black. No stars either…  
There was the walkway under them, all that was left of Earth. It was twisted and falling apart, chunks of dirt and rock floating off to the sides…  
…And she was alone, with no one else but the one responsible for it.

She wanted to chew him out. She wanted to yell and scream and hurt him–  
But…as she tuned into what he was saying, she realized something; he was  _panicking_. Stuck in a loop of claiming he could fix it, before going “oh god I can’t fix it”, and seemingly unable to make up his mind…or…just…unable to accept the reality of the situation. He  _couldn’t_  fix it. It was impossible…  
…Wasn’t it…?

“…Ecolo.” She called out. “Ecolo…?  
…What…what happened…?”  
…but he didn’t seem to have heard her, the loop just continuing.  
Ringo sighed, sitting down. The situation seemed hopeless…yet she couldn’t just…she couldn’t just let it be, could she…? And with the anomaly not thinking things through, it was up to her instead…  
…Or so she thought.

As she quieted and tried to collect herself…she caught someone’s voice, just beyond Ecolo’s. A familiar voice, clearly sobbing…  
Her heart skipped a beat.  
Though the other person was clearly upset, there  _was_  someone else. She could ask for help…! Or, at least, they could maybe get Ecolo to calm down…

Hopeful, she rushed towards it – only slowing down upon realizing the owner of the voice was none other than Satan, who had collapsed to his knees, and was blubbering.  
“Not again, not again, not again…” …over and over, in a similar loop to Ecolo. Yet this one…sent chills down her spine.  
“Again”…?

“…H-has this happened before…?”

Satan jumped at her voice, looking over in surprise.  
“R-ringo…?”

“e-er…Y-yeah.” She nodded. “And, um…Ecolo. Though he’s really out of it.” She gestured at the traveler behind her.

The demon prince stared at her like she had sprouted two heads…before taking a deep breath and wiping his tears away.  
“…s…so it’s not…exactly like last time…  
…I suppose I can take comfort in that…” Though another sob almost escaped from him, he stood up and started dusting himself off, looking…a little dead inside in Ringo’s opinion.  
It didn’t seem like he could even put on a brave face for this…

“…um–”

“T-to answer your question though”, he quickly spoke up again, “th-this…something very similar to it  _has_ happened before…though it’s quite a long story…”

“…You’ll have to tell me about it later.  
We can get out of this though…?”

He nodded. “Indeed…  
I can…” He paused, trailing off. “…but the smaller amount already exhausted me before…and I didn’t even do that great of a…hhh…  
…We…? We can potentially recreate everything…  
I can cover the worlds, at least. And the people…I could try…” He awkwardly rubbed the back of his head  
“…this may get complicated…  
It’d be nice if Ecolo would be willing to help…”

“Especially as he’s the one that did this.” Ringo added

“–What!?”

“But we can deal with that later.” She hastily continued, not wanting to get off-track, or have Satan do something regretful.  
“I-is…is it possible I could help…?”

Satan hesitated, looking her over. Though it pained him to do so…he allowed the Ecolo subject to drop for the moment. “…Perhaps, but…you’d need a  _lot_  of magic…way more than you have now…  
And there wouldn’t be much of a shortcut for that sort of thing…”

“What would I have to do…?”

“…Train.” He shrugged uselessly. “Practice, learn new spells, get stronger…  
You haven’t done anything of the sort, really, outside of Puyo Puyo. And that and actual spellcasting, while those two things are indeed connected, are still two vastly different tasks.  
Puyo Puyo powers up magic for a brief time, but that’s all it does.”

“I…I see…” Ringo looked down “…How long would that training take…?”

“Quite a while…” He admitted, before adding, “But we have all of the time in existence to do this…and you might not be needed.”

“Hrrm…”

“We’ll play it by ear.” Satan assured, gently patting her head. “But, if nothing else, your sentiments are greatly appreciated.  
Now, to get that little… _brat_ ” he spat the word out like venom “calmed down and on the same page as us…  
He got us into this mess – he’ll be invaluable for getting us out…”

…Ringo suddenly felt a strong surge of pity for Ecolo, but certainly not enough to stand in Satan’s way…


	2. Chapter 2

The reality of the situation hit Ringo…sometime later, during training. She didn’t know how much time had passed – enough that she had slept a few times, but, even then, it was starting to feel like she hadn’t done so in a while…

Satan had given Ecolo a piece of his mind and then some in that time. It only served to upset Ecolo further, or so she could guess, as he suddenly became completely deadened and borderline emotionless. It wasn’t something she had really ever seen before; the anomaly only ever dabbled in extremes.  
Extreme happiness, playfulness…  
If he was feeling hostile, he’d lash out without restraint. If he was sad, he’d blubber loudly, numerous tears rolling down his face…  
But this…  
…it felt so utterly wrong. Completely unnatural to what she knew of him. It was incredibly unsettling to see.

And as for the demon lord himself, Ringo had seen Satan angry before. She had seen him cry before. Had seen him determined…so this was nothing new.  
Yet, she still felt like she was missing something as she watched him try to explain to Ecolo what to do. But rather than a mere piece of a puzzle, it was more like she had only been given half of the set.

If she had to make an assumption, it would be that the story Satan had yet to tell her would shed light on such things…

…but aside from that, nothing particularly eventful had happened. She had been given a set of instructions from Satan for her magic training, and things were generally calming down. She was even getting used to the duo never leaving her sight for once.

However, things settling down only gave her more pause for thought, more time to settle back into her old habits and ways…  
When everything suddenly hit her, it was because of a mere action. A simple thought. So second nature to her these days, and yet…

“Arle, about Satan…Is there anything you could tell m–?”  
She fell silent, realizing quite quickly that she had turned to nothing but thin air.  
Her mind tried to correct it. She was just looking in the wrong direction…  
Then…  
 _Oh, right. Arle’s gone._  
 _Everyone’s…gone…_

The emotions came crashing down on her much harder than she could have ever anticipated. In that moment, she crumpled to the floor, losing all composure and just…crying.  
She wished Maguro or Risukuma were here for comfort…or her parents…but…there wasn’t anyone…not anymore…  
They were gone…  
Gone…

…  
She didn’t know when it had happened, but it took her a moment to realize that someone had pulled her into a hug, and that she was already hugging back.  
Slowly, she became aware of Satan chirping softly in a language she didn’t understand, his arms gently wrapped around her.  
Ecolo floated around them in a circle, concerned but not the comforting type. It was a fact about him she was always sort of vaguely aware about…even if it mostly hurt at the moment.  
Couldn’t he have at least tried…?

…Slowly, Ringo pulled back, wiping away her tears.

“Are you alright, Ringie?” Ecolo asked, floating down to them.

“I…I’m fine…” She replied…only for Satan to gently pet her head.

“It’s okay.” He cooed softly. “It’s alright to not be fine.  
It…was hard for me too…” The demon sadly looked away.

Unable to help herself, she immediately asked, “What happened?”

Satan hesitated for a few moments, idly hugging her close. His body was almost completely tense, only easing up enough to avoid squishing her.  
“…I suppose…I’ve waited long enough to tell someone…” He sighed “…where to even start though…?”


	3. Chapter 3

"...I suppose...I need to start at the beginning.

In the beginning, there wasn't much to my original world. Just the Creator, who created God, Heaven, and said world. After that, God made angels and humanity. The angels being...myself and my brothers and sisters.

Things were quite good in Heaven, as you might expect, but things in the world below weren't looking so great. The world had become too small for the people living in it, and wars and battles broke out over the smallest of things. There was a lot of senseless death and violence. Everything was falling apart...

Eventually, action was taken...so to speak. A woman named Lilith gathered an army, and tried to wage war upon the Heavens. She thought that the Cycle of Life, Death, and Rebirth was cruel, unjust, and even more pointless suffering. Considering the things she must have seen and gone through, I can't really fault her for it, but..." ...He trailed off for a moment, before shaking his head. "...Never mind, let's continue.

In response to this, we were sent down to fight, being Heaven's Army and all.  
There were... _heavy_  losses on both sides, but Heaven technically won. Technically.  
However, I wound up falling in love with Lilith in the process, and that...  
...  
...A-anyways, regardless, what was left of civilization wound up collapsing in the wake of the war, and after things had settled down and my relationship with Lilith had solidified, she...brought up her plan b.

During the war, she had come across an artifact known as the Seraph Orb. And with its power, she created a new world in a new reality. By this point, nothing was left in the original world except for the remains of what was.

God was enraged by my betrayal and involvement in the entire event. As punishment, he took away my name, my wings...put me into exile..." ...He sighed.  
"...Well...regardless, I was living on that world from now on, now known as Satan -- and, no, you can't know my original name. That's the _point_ , Ringo."

Ringo...pouted slightly, unable to even pretend she wasn't going to ask.

"Things seemed to be going good for a while. I lost Lilith, but I had Carbuncle, and Draco, and eventually Rulue...it was nice.  
Sometime after Rulue, I finally met Arle. She befriended Carbunny...and the rest is history.

But...if you've ever really learned anything about history, it's that it's never really that kind...

After so long of it seeming like the new world was perfectly peaceful and untouchable, no matter what sort of personal squabbles happened...The Creator suddenly decided to try throwing things into chaos.

Plenty of people tried to help out. People I knew, people I didn't know. Things...happened. Things I'd prefer not to remember.  
Especially..." He grimaced, looking away. "...what happened at the end of it all...

Arle had become extremely powerful over the years. And, being the only one wholly immune to The Creator's influence, she was the only one that could fight them.  
After a long, horrible battle, she _won_...

...but nothing was left. Not...not even her...  
Her soul remained, sure, yet that was torn in two, unbeknownst to me at the time.  
...  
Well...I guess...not 'nothing'. Besides her, I remained, after all...because of _course_  I did...

I...decided to try remaking everything. The world, and all of its people...or...who I could remember, anyway...and some random people I came up with to help fill it. I created a new body for the half of Arle's soul I had retrieved...  
And everything from then...became everyone you knew now."

As the recap ended, Satan gave a heavy sigh, staring down at the ground.

"...I've never told anyone before...  
I made sure to make sure no one knew that any of it happened...which...was a mistake on my part, I suppose..." He closed his eyes, resting his head in his hands. "It didn't take long for that knowledge to just... _get_  to me. And I didn't even do a good job of recreating anyone.  
Before I even knew it, I...." ...he trailed off.

"...No...no...it's...not important right now. I'm...I'm not ready yet...I would have still gone on with this information inside me if the event hadn't repeat itself...  
I'm sorry...this...is my limit right now..."

...  
After all of that...Ringo didn't know how to respond. Everything was still sinking in.

Arle...wasn't really Arle...? She was _half_  of Arle?  
And everyone else from her world...they weren't real...? Or... _were_  they...?  
Did this mean Satan was a god...!?

Briefly, she looked over at Ecolo, to see what he thought about all of this...only to be met with an incredibly blank stare.

...Yeah...  
She...certainly felt something like that too right now...

**Author's Note:**

> This is technically a rewrite of a (non-public) drabble I wrote a while back, around the time I was first getting into Puyo Puyo. It was no more accidental at the time, but that version of Ecolo was more of a jerk and Satan was as dead as everyone else, leaving it to be a situation where it was just Ringo and Ecolo. I felt like re-exploring the concept, but now with the added knowledge of everything Satan went through waaaaay before he ever met Arle...  
> He could probably live through any kind of armageddon, to be honest.  
> But back on track, I wrote the initial chapter as a complete one-off, intending to continue it and then just sort of forgetting, as I do with most of my unposted drabbles. Then I wound up rereading it and...wrote a lot more. So now we go down this rabbit hole--
> 
> Also, I didn't put in any shipping tags (yet) because I'm not entirely sure shipping moments will actually pop up, on account of the situation. We'll see how that goes as well.


End file.
